abstract

/ab-ˈstrakt/

Middle English, "withdrawn, removed, abstruse, extracted from a longer work, (of nouns in grammar) not concrete," borrowed from Medieval Latin abstractus "removed, secluded, incorporeal, universal, extracted from a larger work, summarized," going back to Latin, past participle of abstrahere "to remove forcibly, turn aside, divert," from abs- (variant of ab- ab-c- and t-) + trahere "to drag, draw, take along," of uncertain origin

adjective

  1. disassociated from any specific instance

  2. difficult to understand : abstruse

  3. insufficiently factual : formal

an abstract entity

abstract problems

noun

  1. a summary of points (as of a writing) usually presented in skeletal form; also : something that summarizes or concentrates the essentials of a larger thing or several things

  2. an abstract thing or state

  3. abstraction

verb

  1. to make a summary or abstract of : summarize

  2. to draw away the attention of

  3. steal, purloin

abstract an academic paper